N-1 Victory
The is an annual professional wrestling round-robin tournament held by Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah). Originally known as the from 2010 until 2018, the tournament was given its current name in March 2019. Created by Akira Taue, the tournament has been held annually since 2010 and is ranked as the most prestigious event in the Noah calendar. The tournament is compared to All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW)'s Champion Carnival and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW)'s G1 Climax. The N-1 Victory is held under a round-robin system, with two points for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss. The wrestlers finishing atop the points standings in the two blocks advance to the knockout stage, where the winner is determined in a head-to-head match to determine the tournament winner. The tournament matches are held under the GHC title match rules as the base rule, having a 30-minute time limit. In the below results, © signifies the GHC Heavyweight Champion at the time of each tournament. Usually, the winner of the tournament earns a shot at the title, assuming they are not already the champions. Tournament History In 2010, Pro Wrestling NOAH announced a new tournament "Global League" comprising and showcase twelve of Noah's top heavyweight stars and have them compete in round-robin matches where the winners of the two divisions would then square off in the tournament finals. The Global League has often been used as a platform for NOAH to push their rising stars. Wins by young up-and-comers over Japanese legends would usually take their respective careers to new heights. Past winners include Takeshi Morishima, KENTA, Takashi Sugiura and Naomichi Marufuji. The winner of the tournament, assuming they are not already the champion, has traditionally earned a shot at the GHC Heavyweight Championship. The first tournament was held from March 28 to May 2, 2010. The winner of block A Jun Akiyama faced the winner of block B Yoshihiro Takayama at finals where Takayama won. Yoshihiro Takayama would then receive his shot for the GHC Heavyweight Championship against Takashi Sugiura. However, Takayama would fail to win the championship. Usually, the winner of the tournament gets his GHC Heavyweight Championship in December. Yuji Nagata was the only wrestler to win the Noah's Global League, the AJPW's Champion Carnival and NJPW's G1 Climax. In 2011 and 2013 until now the number of participants as increased. Naomichi Marufuji was the only wrestler to successfully win his opportunity and become the new GHC Heavyweight Champion after winning the tournament, while Kenoh became the first wrestler to win the tournament in his first appearance. On March 30, 2019, following the takeover of Pro Wrestling Noah by LIDET Entertainment it was announced that the tournament would be renamed to N-1 Victory as part of LIDET Entertainment's plan to relaunch Noah as the second top promotion in Japan. It was also announced that the tournament would take place in the summer opposed to the old format of taking place in the winter. Throughout the relationship between Noah and American promotion Major League Wrestling, Alex Hammerstone and El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. were announced to take part of the new tournament. For the second time in the tournament history, reigning GHC Heavyweight Champion, Kaito Kiyomiya will not take part of the tournament. The winner of the tournament will receive an opportunity for GHC Heavyweight Championship on November 2 at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan. List of winners 2010 The 2010 Global League was held from March 28 to May 2, through the Spring Navigation 2010 tour. The tournament featured a block system, with twelve wrestlers divided in two blocks of six. The top finishing wrestlers from each block met in the final. 2011 The 2011 Global League was held from November 3 to November 20, through the Global League 2011 tour. The tournament featured a block system, with eighteen wrestlers divided in two blocks of nine. The top finishing wrestlers from each block met in the final. 2012 The 2012 Global League was held from November 3 to November 23, through the Global League 2012 tour. The tournament featured a block system, with fourteen wrestlers divided in two blocks of seven. The top finishing wrestlers from each block met in the final. 2013 The 2013 Global League was held from October 19 to November 10. The tournament featured a block system, with fourteen wrestlers divided in two blocks of seven. The top finishing wrestlers from each block met in the final. 2014 The 2014 Global League took place from October 18 to November 8. 2015 The 2015 Global League took place from October 16 to November 8. 2016 The 2016 Global League was held from November 3 to November 23, through the Global League 2016 tour. The tournament featured a block system, with sixteen wrestlers divided in two blocks of nine. The top finishing wrestlers from each block met in the final. The tournament included outside participants freelancer Alejandro Saez and from New Japan Pro Wrestling Toru Yano. 2017 The 2017 version of the Global League took place between October 14 and November 19. On October 17 it was announced that Yuji Okabayashi was forced to forfeit all of his matches due to suffering a shoulder injury. 2018 The 2018 version of the Global League would take place between October 30 and November 25, outside participation include Kazusada Higuchi from DDT Pro-Wrestling and Kohei Sato from Pro Wrestling Zero1. Naomichi Marufuji won block A of the tournament, but was forced to pull out of the finals after suffering a shoulder injury in his final round-robin match. As a result, it was decided a three-way match between Kenoh, Katsuhiko Nakajima, and Kohei Sato, who had all finished second in their block, to determine Marufuji's replacement. 2019 The 2019 version of the tournament was the N-1 Victory and took place between August 18 and September 16. Instead of the tournament taking place in the winter, the tournament will take place in the summer opposed to the old format. On July 29, Noah announced the participants, which included three outsiders; Dragon Gate's Masaaki Mochizuki and Major League Wrestling's Alex Hammerstone and El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. For the second year in the tournament history, reigning GHC Heavyweight Champion, Kaito Kiyomiya, did not enter the tournament. Instead, the winner of the tournament would challenge for his title on November 2 at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan. Gallery |-| Gallery= GlobalLeagueoldlogo.png|Global League old logo GlobalLeaguetrophy.jpg|Global League trophys Global League 2017 logo.png|2017 Global League Logo |-| Winners= TAKAYAMAGL.jpg|Yoshihiro Takayama MORISHIMAGL.jpg|Takeshi Morishima KENTAGL.jpg|KENTA NAGATAGL.jpg|Yuji Nagata SUGIURAGL.jpg|Takashi Sugiura MARUFUJIGL.jpg|Naomichi Marufuji SUZUKIGL.jpg|Minoru Suzuki KENOHN-1.jpg|Kenoh KIYOMIYAGL.jpg|Kaito Kiyomiya Category:Events Category:Tournaments Category:Pro Wrestling Noah Events Category:NOAH Tournaments